Lawn mower



Dec. 14 1926.

G. s. HoDGs LAWN MO WER Filed August 22, 1919 Patented Dec. 14,1926.

UNITED STATES V.Pariazrrl oFFlcE,

GEORGE s. noDGEs, or roNTIAc, MICHIGAN, AssIefNon, Bjr DIRECT AND MEsNE AssIGNMENTs, To THE MoTo-Iuownn coIvrrANY, A eoRroRATIoN 'or MIGHIGAN.

LAWN -MQWEE ppllication led August 22, 19.19. Serial No. 319,066.

"The invention relates to lawn mowers more particularly designed for use upon lawns having shrubs, trees and 'other obst-ructions to be avoided. lt is the object ot the invention to obtain a construction which can be readily propelled and guided manually, but in which`the`power required for operating the cutter is derived fromV a motor. It is a further object to obtain a simple construction 'avoiding the weight and complical tion of power-operated'mowers. .Still turther, it is an object to utilize the motor to assist in the propulsion of the machine on unobstructed areas without interfering with f the complete. manual control or preventing operation independently of the motor when desirable. lt is alsov an object' to provide it'or -the resharpening of the blades at any time Without' the necessity o@ disassembling the mechanism or removal from the lheldl l/'ith these andl other objects, the inven "tion ycomprises the novel construction as" hereinafter set forth.

ln the drawings; c Figure4 l isa sectional plan view 'of the mower;1 p

Figure. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section; ligre 3 is' a sectional :front elevation. l ln the present state oi the art various vconstructins of power-actuated mowers have been devised, but these usually involve a considerable increase in weight over the' -hand mowers, as well as complicated mechay nismor transmission of lthe power .to bot-h the cutter' and .the *propulsion wheels.

While such devices arevery useful inlarge 'iields and unobstructed areas, it is difficult to make use of the same uponlawns which are obstructedA by shrubs,-trees, walks, etc.,

or where the ground is rollingy or terraced.`

@n the other hand` the use of a hand-operated mowerinvolve'sthe expenditure oi" hoth labor andtime, the'former beine; largely due to the step-up gearingfor revolving the cutter/atsuicientlyhigh velocity from the ground wheels, andv the timeelement 1hein;r due to the necessary restriction in width oi1 amachine which has to be .manually operated.

With my improved construction l dispense with lgearing or other transmission Vmechanism hetween thel ground' wheels and'cutter and drive the latter at-.high velocity directly from a comparatively low powered motor.

This decreases thepower required for pro- 55 peiling the machine over, a lawn to such an extent that a muchwider cutter may be employed, which will perform its workin a correspondingly shorter time. rllhe higher the velocity of rotation of the cutter'the 60 greater its eiliciency, and the less the power required fer its operation, and thus a small, light and low-powered motor is all that is required. n the other hand, by providingv Aa friction drive pulley on the. end of the 55 usual in lawn mowers, and C is the cooperating stationary knife har. These parts are mounted upon a light Ytrame, preferably t comprising side plates D and cross hars E. i5

The machine is also provided with the ground wheels l? at opposite ends of the cutter and with a rear roller G for adjustment of the vheight of the cut as is usual in the hand-operated machines. @(9

tUpon the frame, and preferably ysecured .to the cross hars 'E thereof, isv mounted a mptor Hdor which' l preferably employ a\ two-cycle explosion engine.` The crank shaft l otthis motor is provided with avsuitablc 'driving1 connection -to the shaft of the cutter, such as the helt or chain d, engaging the pulleys or sprockets K and l1. fit is, (however, desirable to avoid a positive connection which might result in the breaking of the cutter upon striking a stone/or other obstruction and l have, therefore, provided .a friction clutchF such as indicated at M.

With the construction as thus far described, whenever the engine isstarted, it

will drive the cutter at high velocity and .if the operator then ypropelsthe machine by the handle N, he can easily guide and control its operation. As there is no relation between the -speed oit movement over the ground andthe vspeed 'of revolution of the cuttenthe mower may be moved slowly in heavy grass and at-a vgreater speed where the -Work 'is lighter. There is also no danger of Mr running the machine Into shrubs, or other a obstructions. lnasmuch, however, as there l-are `always' unobstructed areas, l have provided means for assisting in the forward detall, A is a revolvingcutter, prefer- '70 fahly having the spirally-arranged `blades B movement ofthe machine by the motor, this consisting in friction pulleys O on the outer ends of the cutter shaft X and vwhich are adapted to engage peripheral` flangesC of the ground wheels on the inner surface thereof. To permit of this engagement the wheels F are preferably journaled on the' shaft P, which is mounted on rock arms Q fulcrumed on the frame and actuated by t-he rock arm R. rod S and lever T on the handle. vOne or more. springs U are arranged to yielda-bly rock the arms Q. in a direction to press the peripheral ianges of kthe ground wheels F against the pulleys O when the lever '1" is in one position of adjustment, but upon the movement of said lever to its opposite position, the spring U is placed under tension and the peripheral flanges of the ground wheels are withdrawn from contact. Thus,

the operator is permitted to make luseJ of ther power in assisting propulsion whenever this is feasible, but atot-her times the cutter shaft and ground wheels are entirely independent of each other. L

mower to do good work must be frequently sharpened and this sharpening may be effected by rotating the cutter backwards and by placing a'n`abrasive` material upon the stationary bar C With my vimproved construction themotor being two-cycle is reversible, so that atA anytime the blades may be sharpened. i

The batteries, coil and control switch and other accessories may be conveniently mounted upon' the frame and as indicated are enclosed in the housingV.

In use, the motor is started and through the chain or`belt J will drive the cutterY shaft at high velocity.. The operator thenV pushes the machine to advancethe same and can regulate his movements by the charac- ,ter of the grass to be cut and the1 objects to be avoided; lWhenever there is an unobstructed stretch, the lever P may be adjusted to release the rock arm R, permitting the springs U to yieldably press. the pe- "ripher'al 'flanges' of the ground wheels F against the rictional pulleys O. This will drive vthe wheels to assist in the propulsion of the machine, but the movement canistill be controlled by the operator and the power dr1ve thrown off whenever desired.

What I claim as my invention is:

11.*A lawn mower, comprisin a rotary cutter, a frame lon which sai cutter is mounted, a motor also mounted on said frame and directly driving said cutter at high velocity, ground wheels swingingly mounted on said frame and means nnder the control of the operator for driving the ground wheels non-positively by the motor.

2. A lawn mower, comprising a frame, a handle on said frame for manually operatingthe same, a rotary cutter mounted onsaid frame, a lmotor also mounted on saidy mounted on the frame frame, and connected tosaid cutter to drive the same at high velocity, a. friction pulley atthe end of said cutter, a ground wheel movable bodily toward and away from said friction pulley, and means for' yieldably pressing said ground wheel linto engagement `with said friction pulley to assist in the propulsion of the machine.-

3. A lawn mower comprising a frame, a rotary cutter having a shaft journalled in sadirame, a motor mounted on said frame for directly driving said cutter, a` member carried by said cutter shaft, rock arms carried by said frame, a `shaft journalled in said rock arms, ground engaging wheels mounted on the last mentioned shaft, and means for actuating said rock arms to move said wheels into frictional engagement with said member for .driving the ground wheels from the lmotor. l?

il. A lawn mower comprisin a frame, a

the frame, a motor mounted on the frame for directly drivin said cutter, al swingingly mounted sha t, a member carried by said cutter shaft,.ground wheels carried by said swingingly mounted shaft, and means forI swinging said shaft to cause said wheels lto rictionally engage said member for driving the ground wheels from the motor.

5. A lawn mower comprising a frame, a rotary c utter having a shaft journalled in Asaid frame, a motor mounted on said trame for directly driving said cutter, a member carried by said cutter shaft, rock arms carried by said frame, a shaft journalled in said rock arms, ground engaging wheels mounted on-the last-mentioned shaft, means vincluding a rod connected to one et the roclr arms or movin saidwheels into 'frictional engagement witi said member for driving the ground wheels from saidY motor, and yieldable lmeans for operating said wheels and member.

6. lnla v lawn mower, a frame, a cutter having a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a flange on the shaft, a pinion on the shaft frictionally engageable with the Hange 'lli to .drive the cutter shaft, yieldable means i normally\ in frictional engagement, and a motor for directly driving said pinion. l l v 7. A lawn mower comprising a. jtrame, a. cutter' journaled upon said/ frame, a motpr carried by said' frame and connected to s aid cutter to operate Kthe latter at `high veloclty, a friction member at one end of'said cutter,l a pair ofground wheels, a shaft mountine` said ground wheels movable to and from said friction member to control driving en'- gagement of said friction member with one of said ground wheels, and means yieldably urgingthe'ground wheel shaft toward said friction member.

maintaining said pinion and Hangs 8. A hand propelled lawn mower including a frame, ground engaging wheels supl{jiortingsaid frame, a rotary cutter carried y the frame, a motor on the frame for driving the cutter, and a manually controlled driving connection between the cutter and ground wheels including means for changing the axis of the latter relatively to the axls of the cutter.

9. A lawn motor -`comprising a frame, a rotary cutter carried by Said frame, a motor on the frame and connected to said cut ter to drive\the same, a friction pulley fixed upon the cutter, ground whee s for said frame manually engagin said pulley so as to be driven thereby, an means for shifting said ground wheels bodily away from said pulley to render the latter inoperative for driving said wheels.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

GEORGE s. HoDofEs. 

